Since December 2016, CIPIT, a research centre at Strathmore Law School in partnership with Small Media, a research and advocacy organization based in London, UK , has been running network measurements to investigate the relationship between physical internet infrastructure ownership and internet freedom in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. Physical internet infrastructure is used here to mean the networking layer of the internet connecting end users to the global ecosystem from national gateways, exchange points and service providers.

1. Network
Measurements &
Internet Freedom
by
Mahmood Enayat &
Moses Karanja

2. Our Objectives
● To map the state of internet freedom across the East Africa region - specifically
in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan.
● To explore the relationship between internet freedom, digital security, and the
work of East African civil society.
● To begin to assess the relationship between internet infrastructure and internet
freedom.

4. Using the African
Declaration

5. Rating Digital
Resilience

6. Network Measurements // Key Findings
● Using the network-monitoring tools OONI Probe and Centinel on
selected ISPs in the four countries, we tested for censorship and
surveillance for 90 days between 1 December 2016 and 28
February 2017.
● Using the data collected, we classified the findings to get a better
understanding of how information controls in the research countries
compare.
○ ‘Websites Blocked’ captures the total number of websites that
are unavailable on the networks tested during the research
period.
○ ‘Middle Boxes Discovered is the cumulative instances in
which we detected internet traffic manipulation tools on the
tested networks.

7. Network Measurements // Key Findings
0
9
9

8. What Are Middle Boxes?

9. Governments, ISPs and Information Controls

10. Lessons Learnt
Positives
Huge demand for evidence-led work on Internet, public policy and human rights.
Mobile network testing now a possibility.
Negatives
Very few volunteers for this kind of research.
Self-censorship affects commentary of results from affected organizations

11. Recommendations
Improved monitoring tools: Research quality depends on consistency of many
moving parts.
Intuitive data analysis functions a clear need in the ecosystem: Access to raw
data still limited to technical researchers.
More investment in this research: volunteers to host probes, ISPs and business
community to support researchers and other relevant partners. The health of the
Internet affects all of us.

12. Conclusions
● This report has demonstrated the necessity for civil society to mobilise
itself in defence of internet freedom across East Africa.
● There is a clear need to continue to establish and foster a strong digital
security community that CSOs can turn to to receive training and
support.
● Private sector stakeholders will be central to the struggle for freedom of
expression online - they are the ones who ultimately will be responsible
for enforcing any internet control mechanisms.